Baku demands from Brussels to investigate attacks on Azerbaijani citizens

On July 24, Kestutis Yankauskas, the head of the EU Delegation to Baku, and Bert Shufs, the Belgian Ambassador, were invited to the Azerbaijani Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA). Khalaf Khalafov, the MFA deputy head, called on them to investigate the attacks on Azerbaijani citizens at the rallies in Brussels and to punish those responsible.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that the Consulate General of Azerbaijan in the USA claimed that a policeman and seven Azerbaijanis suffered at a protest rally against the aggravation of the conflict on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border held in Los Angeles on July 21.

On July 22, during an action in Belgium, the territory of the diplomatic missions and the members of the Azerbaijani community who gathered there were attacked and beaten with stones.

On July 24, Messrs Yankauskas and Shufs were summoned to the Azerbaijani MFA to meet Khalaf Khalafov, the Deputy Foreign Minister.

During the meeting, Mr Khalafov noted that the mass demonstration in front of the Azerbaijani Embassy in Brussels on July 22 "was accompanied by serious provocations and vandalism." Six members of the Azerbaijani Diaspora received serious traumas and were hospitalized. "Despite repeated warnings, Belgian authorities failed to stop these provocations," the Azerbaijani MFA's statement says.

Khalaf Khalafov called on the Belgian authorities to "seriously investigate this issue, give a legal assessment of what happened and bring to justice those who committed crimes and acts of vandalism."

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on July 25, 2020 at 04:47 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.